The Before

If you want to know ALL the reasons I am doing this Whole30 – go check out my previous blogs What Exactly am I doing? and Why Wholly?
But certainly a big part of this journey is to get in better shape. Whether that means a lower number on the scale or just a tighter, more toned physique, one of my goals is to LOOK better.
I thought about just saving all my “Before” images and measurements until the end of the Whole30 and posting them together with my “Afters” at the end of all this, but I like the idea of being totally transparent from the beginning – letting you in on ALL the details from the get go. If you are going to come along with me on this journey from the starting line to the finish line – then I’m going to let you come along for EVERY. Single. Step. – including this (not so comfortable, kind of painful) one.
Here are my Before Shots (the first are in gym clothes because you can SEE everything, but let’s be REAL… I want to look good in my everyday clothes… like my jeans – so my last photos are in my favorite jeans (which I am hoping will be too big by the end of this) because I think it’s important to see the before/after difference in my “normal” clothes.
And no, I don’t plan on cutting, coloring or majorly restyling my hair or getting super tan or taking my “after” shots in a better lit area with more make-up on… so what you see is the real thing – no “TV commercial “after shots”. (Just wanted you to know that upfront).
Okay. No more delaying. Here. we. go. (Deep. Deep. Breath.)
Gym clothes. (At present time, spandex is not. my. friend…. unless I am trying to do some before/after shots for a diet I am doing.) (And really, then it’s still not a friend, just a helpful enemy). 

Jeans & a white camisole (because the camisole shows what I need to see for comparisons sake).

Measurements (all in inches):
Thigh: 23.5
Lower Waist (where my jeans actually sit): 39.75
Hips: 42.25
Arm: 11
High Waist (the narrowest part): 32.5

Weight: 178 lbs

And since the Whole30 claims that other health problems can possibly resolve through the diet change here is also a list of things that I have been struggling with that are unrelated to my weight that I will address again during my “after” post(s).
Acne/Uneven skin tone
Tight muscles (especially back and neck)
Lower back pain/Hip pain and cramps or numbness in right leg
“Irregular” (you know what I mean)
Fuzzy brain/memory struggles
HATE waking up – and never feel well rested – Always feels like I JUST went to sleep.
Not a deep sleeper and sometimes takes long to fall asleep.
I get tired during the day (like want to take a nap kind of tired).
Not a lot of energy (would like to be able to keep up with my kids and still have energy left for me to workout, or do something more than sit on the couch after they are in bed).
(There may be more, but I at this point I have not thought of them – I can always come back and update this list if I think of more).
I’m looking forward to seeing what the “After” is going to look like. I’m looking forward to never looking back.
Let’s get this thing started! See you on the other side!

Panic! My Whole30 starts TOMORROW!

I’m not going to lie. Last night I lied in bed just wondering panicking about what foods I would miss. How bad my “withdrawal” would be. And whether or not I could do this at all.

I also started to question whether or not I REALLY wanted to come out of this thing and NEVER want something like an Oreo or Big Mac again.

A loud voice in my head started yelling “I DON’T REALLY WANT TO DO THIS! I TAKE IT BACK!”

Luckily, I woke up more level-headed this morning and felt better and more confident about the journey. And although I am STILL wondering about what I will and won’t want to eat AFTER my Whole30 is done, I am trying to just take it one day at a time. Because if what happens to a majority of the people who have done a Whole30 before happens to me, then although I might be concerned about this stuff now, I won’t be then. And after all, that IS (part of) my goal, isn’t it?

Preparing Meals (ahead of time)

So I have two children, a 22-month old and a 3-month old (who still breastfeeds) and typically getting cereal poured for breakfast, hot dogs heated for lunch and some semblance of a well-balanced meal on the table for dinner was a stretch before, so I honestly had NO IDEA how I was going to pull off cooking “from scratch” for EVERY meal, EVERY day... but I was committed, so I needed to figure out a way.

One Word: PLAN!

1. Plan your Menu

I planned out a menu (every meal for every day of the coming week)… on an Excel sheet (because that’s just me – I am OVERLY organized, at times to a fault, but I think this time around it will end up working to my benefit). (As I get more used to cooking and preparing meals this way I likely won’t need quite the structured planning that I require now, but for now my Excel Menu Planning Sheet is my best friend).

2. Plan your Grocery List

Take it from me, you won’t get it all at one store. I used my menu planning sheet to compile two separate grocery lists for each store I wanted to go to. (To make it even easier – you can categorize your list by aisle/sections or you can use a handy Mobile App that does that for you!)

3. Plan to Prepare-Ahead

If you don’t have kids or a job outside the home, you may not need to do this step – but for anyone who will won’t be able to be in the kitchen to prepare each meal at the specific time said meal needs to be eaten, then this step WILL benefit you… greatly.

Today, while the kids were napping I used my 2 hours to

A) dice veggies and bag them together based on upcoming meals (for example, I have all the veggies cut and in one bag that I can just dump into the slow cooker with my meat to make my Whole30 Chili on Sunday or I have all my butter lettuce & cabbage chopped and ready to just pull out of a bag for salads)

B) I pre-made my Breakfast Mix (Eggs, spinach, collard greens and turkey sausage crumble) – just heat up in the morning and your good to go (even easier then cereal!)

C) I prepared other items like meatballs, meatloaf, and I grilled some chicken so I can easily pull it out and heat it up or put it on a salad.

D) I made the sauces from the recipes in the back of the “It Starts with Food” book (Olive Oil Mayo, Avocado Dressing, Ranch Dressing and Classy Vinegarette)

So now, although I will still have more work than usual, I won’t be OVERWHELMED. And I have prepared enough to get me to Sunday when I will take advantage of my hubby being home and do more prep for the beginning of next week.

Hopefully all of this preparation will pay-off! I’ll let you know for sure what paid off and what didn’t need to necessarily be done ahead of time and what, if anything, I should have prepared ahead that I didn’t! Stay tuned, this thing is about to get all kinds of FUN! 

Re-Stocking with Whole30 Foods

Since our pantry is almost bare we needed to re-stock with all Whole30 approved items.
I started by shopping last weekend (by myself since I knew it would take some time to find items, compare prices (I still have a budget to try to keep), and read ingredient labels) for our pantry “staples” (things that you use almost everyday). I used this handy list that they provide on the Whole9life website. http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Pantry-Stocking.pdf
Because I don’t have oodles of time to spend going from store to store to see who has what, I just went to Earth Fare (a local whole foods/health food store in Tallahassee) and stocked up. HOWEVER, since then I have found good, Whole30 approved items on the list for less money at alternative places like Costco (including Organic Coconut Oil), Wal-Mart and Publix.
Here are the “staples” I chose to buy from the list at Earth Fare. (Note that the carton of Coconut Milk is NOT Whole30 Approved and I didn’t find out until AFTER I brought it home, I got the canned stuff just in case and I am glad now that I did). This is not ALL of the items on the list, I just started “slow” to see what we like and how much we need, and I will buy more if needed.

Coconut Flour is NOT on the list, but they didn’t have Almond Flour (it was at Publix) and I figured we could TRY the coconut flour on something if we wanted to.



I also bought a few staple items from Costco this past week while my hubby took the kids. Mainly nuts and olives (things I know we will have no problem eating "in bulk") 

 

Then this morning it took me 3 hours, 3 stores (Costco, Publix, Wal-Mart) and one return trip to Wal-Mart (with my two kids) to get most of what I need to get us through our entire first week of our Whole30 (actually 8 days: tomorrow, Friday through next Saturday). Because of limited space in our fridge (and an abundance of fresh foods that need space in there) I will need to make a mid-week trip to restock on some veggies and fruits, but otherwise we are done shopping until next weekend. 
And now, here is what our fridge looks like:

And here is our pantry… it’s still pretty empty because most of the food we will be eating is fresh and needs to be in the fridge. Except a few things that we can put in the fruit bowl!

Cleaning out our Pantry

We start our Whole30 on Friday. One of the success tips that they give on the website (www.whole9life.org) is to clean out your pantry and fridge. Get rid of the stuff that will be beckoning.

I will be real honest – as I emptied (and I do mean EMPTY) our pantry today while the kids were napping I put a lot of stuff in boxes, but my hope is that after the Whole30 a majority of what was put into those boxes will permanently be put into a trash can (or donated somewhere).

 

Some stuff that was already opened I decided to just toss now – things that never should have made it into our pantry to begin with (like Lay’s Potato Chips or Marshmallow Fruit Loops (yes they make those. (I know, right?!))).

You’ll notice that included in what is left in our pantry are a few items that are not Whole30 approved (these have their own shelf) and they are for our toddler. We have decided to keep dairy and Gluten-Free breakfast cereal in her diet, mainly because she isn’t a fan of eggs or sausage yet – and we aren’t really sure what she will eat for breakfast if that’s all we serve. Should she take to the Whole30 breakfast foods easier than we expect than we will likely eliminate the cereal as well, but for now, we are going to allow her to eat the gluten-free cereal and milk for breakfast with fresh fruit and the rest of the day will be Whole30 approved. (And I DO know that the cereal in the photo has added sugar, etc. but this is still a HUGE improvement and we feel that this is the best option for our toddler at this point.)

I totally forgot to take a “Before” pantry photo – but picture a very over-crowded pantry that had cereal, breakfast bars, crackers, instant oatmeal and instant cheese grits on the top shelf, pasta, bread crumbs, rice, quinoa and lots of chips (tortilla & potato) on the second shelf, every oil, dressing and condiment known to man on the third, and baking ingredients on the last.

And now here is what we have left:

For anyone wondering – the below is NOT “dried” fruit it is freeze-dried fruit – it is basically fruit that is crispy and dry. It has nothing added to it and I imagine is Whole30 approved. (The boxes to the right are different teas).

So yea, there isn’t much left. Which is a wake-up call in itself I suppose.

Next post will be about restocking our pantry – it still looks pretty empty and I imagine that it will because everything else we will be buying is “fresh” and required to be in the fridge or the fruit/veggie bowl. Check back for the “Restocking” post later!

Why NOW?

Believe me, I had to answer this question for myself and my husband too. Because in reality there was a lot more on the Why NOT now list then the Why Now, for example, I have a 3-month old and an almost-2-year old, I am still getting used to dealing with TWO kids at a time and getting meals on the table, I have to “phone a friend” for dinner on average of once a week (meaning I get pizza or Moe’s instead of cooking because the day just went poorly and I was too exhausted to do anything else other than eat), it will be my birthday and Ali’s birthday, it will be Easter, we have company…twice, the added expense of eating this way, the added energy and earlier wake-up times required since I will need to cook breakfast and not just dump some cereal in a bowl or unwrap a breakfast bar… the list went on… and on, and on and the Why Now list was really, really (no, really) short. Why now? Because if not now, when? There will NEVER be a perfect storm. Never. There will always be SOMETHING on your “cons” list.

But here’s where things got kinda funny and kinda real:

We aren’t promised tomorrow. That doesn’t necessarily mean we will die tomorrow, but we have no idea what tomorrow will hold.  We need to be ready – we need to be as strong and as prepared and as ready as we can be for whatever comes. Whether what comes is a call from God to go to Africa on missions or a diagnosis from a doctor that requires us to get healthy… NOW. (That was the “REAL” part - the “funny” part of this for me was that my first thought was “if we aren’t promised tomorrow, then I don’t know if I want to go today without my Big Mac.”)

But really, to answer the why now question: it’s because I am feeling convicted about it now. To delay or deny that conviction would be the wrong thing to do, and since I am convinced that this conviction is coming from the Holy Spirit, then it wouldn’t just be wrong, it would be sinful. So… it’s now.

Why the Whole30?

To a certain degree I have already scraped the tip of the iceberg to the answer of this question, but I think it is important to note a few of the other “main” reasons why I chose the Whole30 over another plan or option.

1. The Whole30 is not a life-time diet, it is a body RESET. It gets out all the fake stuff that has been added, modified, altered, etc. to our main food sources (pre Whole30) and allows our natural bodies to enjoy the natural foods that God has given us. We are basically conditioned to like extra salty and extra sweet foods – if we get our bodies back to their natural/normal state – naturally sweet and naturally salty will be enough… and we won’t be so inclined to choose and overwhelm our diets with the things that make us unhealthy (in more ways than one (weight, acne, disease).

2. Because of number 1, the Whole30 is thus a sustainable “diet”. I can do ANYTHING for 30 days (I hope). But after the 30 days are up, the goal is that I will be able to easily make the healthy choices and stay away from the unhealthy ones. Ideally I want to get to a place where I am not on a “DIET”, but a place where choosing the healthy foods is a natural DESIRE. I want a lifestyle that comes naturally but also allows me to maintain the healthy lifestyle I worked hard to get (whether it is a healthy weight, or healthy skin or whatever.) (In the book, “It Starts with Food”, One lady wrote in her testimonial that she would eat several Oreos a day before her Whole30, but afterwards she tried one (even though she wasn’t craving it) and she said it literally made her sick.) That’s the kind of change I want. I don’t want to work really hard to achieve my goal and then go back to the way it used to be only to find myself back at the starting line again!

3. It is not complicated. I don’t have to count calories, weigh food, keep a food journal, or anything else that I don’t really have time for and won’t really do 100% anyway (who has that much discipline?). All I have to do is put together a meal that consists of protein, veggies, some healthy fats and some fruit. (Stay tuned, because until I get the hang of this and let go of my dependence on pre-prepared, processed foods, this “so-called simple” meal planning is not so simple… but the point I am trying to make is that it CAN be!)

And for me, that is why I chose the Whole30. In a nutshell it is hard work in the beginning but it sets you up for a lifetime of victory (no more running backwards in the race or starting over).

NOTE: This is not to say that I WILL never or CAN never eat treats again or processed foods. Of course, I can and I am sure that I will, but I hope to not be dependent on them and to be equipped enough that if things start to get out of hand, I can identify it and find my way back to the right path. (In the book it says some people feel they are getting off the course (still moving forward, but kinda going off the path) and so they do a Whole7 or Whole14 because it doesn’t take as long to get you back on track as it did to help you create a path, get to the start line and start going.) (Don’t think that you can do a Whole14 for your first try though – you need at a MINIMUM 30 days with your first… if you want to know why, read the book, this post is already too long.)

The Last Suppers (& snacks & lunches & desserts)

We knew it was coming. And perhaps that was the worst thing for us (at least it was for me). The Whole30 book says START RIGHT NOW. And now I know why. Because if you give yourself enough time… you’ll party hard until it’s time to start.

To be honest I could not have started “Right Now” with two babies, a husband and absolutely NO CLUE about what “whole foods” really even are.

But I did know that this would be a drastic shift for me. I knew it would be like a drug addict going to rehab. I know there will be serious withdrawal and emotional highs and lows as I break the dependence on foods that I have developed over the past 29 years. So despite some of my “partying” in some ways I have been slowly preparing my body in others.

Here are just SOME of our “lasts” that we are indulging in before we begin our Whole30:

Today I had my last Big Mac – I feel like I am moving away from home. I feel like I have had to say good-bye to a friend that I know I might visit again someday, but also might never see again. It is kinda pathetic really – but again, just goes to show how food can really be emotional and psychological. (I told you I was gonna be H-O-N-E-S-T in this blog – can’t say I didn’t warn you).

Other lasts not in photo:

Pasta & meatballs

Pizza

Fried Chicken

Reese’s Peanut Butter cups

Cheerwine (although I will be honest and proudly say that one thing I have already started weaning myself of is soda – I even had tea today with my Big Mac instead of soda… I know it ain’t much, but it’s SOMETHING that I am hopeful will make my first week or two a little less painful).

I am sure there are other things, but I can’t really think of any so this will have to give you a good enough picture of what our last week looked like.

McMe

So I am about to start my Whole30 – and this blog is to serve as my personal journal of sorts. So I guess, in order to see the change and differences that the Whole30 makes I need to have a starting point… or as some people call it, a “Before”.

If you are what you eat… then allow me to introduce you to McMe:

- Big Macs (probably an average of 2 a week) (and fries and coke, because who can have JUST a Big Mac?)

- Pepsi, Coke, Cherry Dr. Pepper, just about anything carbonated – and I drink a LOT of it. If there is a 2L in the house, don’t expect it to last more than 24 hours.

- Candy. Any of it. I have been known to finish what I like to call a “candy bowl bag” of candy on my own. In a day. Recently its been Reese’s Peanut Butter cups. But candy and I have an emotional affair – things like the holiday colored M&Ms remind me of childhood and help to give the house a “splash of that holiday cheer” whatever holiday it is (Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Christmas, you name it M&Ms have come up with color combos to cover EVERY one – and they just look so darn cute in a nice bowl on my counter.) (The trouble is that they need to be eaten… they’re not just for show.) The same theory applies to Hershey Kisses – these are candies you will consistently find in pretty bowls on my counter to match whatever holiday or season is around the corner.

- Little Debbie Snack cakes – again with the childhood memories and holiday themes.

- Chick-fil-A. Because yum and why not support a good Christian company where you almost always run into someone you know.

- Crystal Light drinks – because it’s not water.

- I eat the chicken skin off the chicken and leave the meat behind.

- I don’t just want a handful or even a bowl full of potato chips – I want the entire. bag.

- I eat veggies at dinner. But mostly because I have a kid and she needs to eat veggies. But if I eat any other veggies during the day its either hidden in Mac & Cheese (nicely done, Kraft, by the way) or it was lettuce on my Big Mac (do pickles on a chicken sandwich count?)

- If I have a serving of fruit in a day… well, that happens SO rarely that I can’t even give you an example of how it would happen. (Juice maybe?)

- When we eat lunch at home it is usually leftovers and I usually choose the carb and MAYBE a few veggies (so if we had chicken with mac & cheese and broccoli, I eat the mac & cheese and a few pieces of the broccoli the next day for lunch).

- I like dips. Condiments. Sauces. And not a proper-lady amount… an entire packet for one fry amount.

- Cookies, brownies, cupcakes, or an acceptable breakfast food like pancakes but with an absurd amount of syrup (the fake corn-syruppy kind too, not that watered down real maple stuff. (yuck.)). is a perfectly good breakfast in my book.

- Water….(what’s water?)

Well, you get the point. To be honest, I can’t really even think of anything else that I eat… on a REGULAR basis anyway. (This will give you a slight indication as to how hard coming up with a menu plan for this Whole30 was for me, more on that later – but essentially, REAL, WHOLE food is SO foreign to me that coming up with a simple protein+veggie+fat combo was like moving from 1st grade addition and subtraction to Calculus!)

And McMe is all very deeply rooted. When I was younger I was skinny. Not thin… skinny. Like, my friends told me I was gross, kind of skinny. All the way through high school. It wasn’t cause I didn’t eat though. I had a ridiculously high metabolism and was very active. But even before high school when I was really young – it was entertainment quality stuff to watch me eat nonstop – like a bottomless pit – and never get full or gain any weight from it. Family would laugh and smile and almost cheer me on  as I devoured piece after piece of cake or an entire bottle of honey in one sitting (gross, I know – and that time I actually did get sick, but until that unfortunate messiness, I was being cheered on and a small crowd of uncles, aunts and grandparents gathered to watch). Then in High School and college I made friends or impressed people with what I could eat and/or how much. Three brownies and a chocolate shake for breakfast – heck yea!

I have been this person for as long as I can remember. But only now is there someone holding me accountable for it. And that someone is ME. (Well, a little bit it’s my husband too – not that he has said anything about my weight or anything – but he does mention how much soda I drink and that it is A. LOT. or that I should lay off the Big Macs).

The point is – I am starting my Whole30 in two days – and THIS is where I am starting from.

(To be very frank, I think my Whole30 will look more like a Whole45 or Whole60 because, to use my analogy from my previous post, I have an almost completely burned down temple that first needs the fire to be put out and then has a LOT of rebuilding to do (more rebuilding than the average Whole30 participant I imagine)… but we shall see).

 

Why Wholly?

Wholly was my clever play on the words Holy and Whole (as in the WHOLE30).

But what’s so “HOLY” about doing a Whole30?

Well, for most people, nothing.

For me, almost everything.

I am a Christian. A follower of Christ. A Disciple of Jesus. My journey and everywhere it takes me has something, if not everything to do with that identity. And this particular journey (my Whole30 journey) has more to do with it than I thought.

I have a scripture posted in my kids’ bathroom, 1 Corinthians 6:20 - "you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." I put it there in hopes that they would be motivated to stay clean and have good hygiene (or at least more motivated than they would be if they were simply doing so because I told them to). But during the course of reading the Whole30 book, that scripture cut deep.

And the more I read the book and prayed about if the Whole30 was something I should do – the deeper that cut became. I started thinking about my food choices (and the choices I was making for my kids). I started feel ashamed that my kid recognizes the Golden Arches and yells with glee “Fries!” every time she spots one (or when we even get in the vicinity of where she knows one is) (I told you it was bad.).

But I am a parent who has tried my best to not be a “do as I say and not as I do” parent. I want to be a good example. And ultimately my kids and I are working toward the same goal: to Honor God with our lives. Our individual walks and specific details of those will be different (obviously) but some things will be the same, despite our age difference, family role, etc. God says our bodies are temples. Mine and my kids’. When we decided that our daughter wouldn’t be permitted to wear bikinis, I threw away all of mine too. When we discipline our daughter, it’s not so that she will do right by us, it’s so she will learn to honor God with EVERY thing she does, which makes us have to be constantly aware of all that WE do – because we should be setting examples of how to live a life that honors God,  from the smallest of choices to the biggest of actions.

And I knew and applied the 1 Corinthians 6:19 & 20 verses. I know my daugter’s body is a temple, that it is a gift from God that she is to take care of so that she can use it to glorify Him. So I try to make her eat healthy. I give her 100% juice or water while I sip on a Pepsi, I give her raisins or apple slices while I scarf down some peanut butter cups (while I hide in the kitchen pretending to do the dishes or cook so that she won’t know I am eating something and ask for “some”.)

But you can’t keep it up forever. I let her have McDonald’s fries eventually – and now she eats them about once a week. It’s fun to give her chocolate and cupcakes. And it’s easier to give her a handful of Gold Fish crackers instead of slicing an apple. But I still TRY when it comes to her. When it comes to me… I guess I just kind of figured it was too late. This temple is already engulfed in flames, and I didn’t think I had the time or will-power, or even the knowledge of how to first put out the flames and then rebuild.

But the more I read the book… the more convicted I got. About my choices, about my choices for my family, about what that meant as far as quality and quantity of life and I also thought about it in terms of honoring God. What if God has something for me to do but I can’t because I am sick or not physically fit enough, and the reason I am sick and not fit is because of my eating habits and not something outside of my control?

Is eating a Big Mac sinful? Probably not for most people, but in my case, it might be… at least right now. It might not be, I might get through this Whole30 only to discover that my body, in fact, DOES operate at its’ optimum level of health while eating junk including but not limited to Big Macs, gummy candy and Pepsi (I say not limited to, but those are 3 main food groups in my world). But I think that the Whole30 will show me that my body and my life will be far more useful when I make healthier choices both psychologically and physiologically. (If I am addicted to the Big Mac, whether an occasional Big Mac will harm me physically or not, I shouldn’t eat it again – same concept as an alcoholic who shouldn’t touch alcohol again once he has gone through rehab).

The point is that scripture tells us to be like Christ – to aspire to holiness and righteousness. Not that we will ever get there in this world, but we are to work toward it. And so – what started for me as a way to lose some weight and get in better shape has become something different – hence the name of this blog: Wholly Journey!

Here. we. go.

What exactly am I doing?

Before I get into the details about this Wholly Journey and why I dubbed it as such, I wanted to introduce you to the plan that the journey is based on. It is something called the Whole30. The Whole30 is a plan that was developed by the authors of "It Starts with Food" who came up with the idea starting with the Paleo diet and from there they developed it into something much more focused, detailed and very specifically goal oriented. The Paleo diet is a long-term lifestyle, the Whole30 is THIRTY days (or 45 or 60 depending on how unhealthy you were before you start) of a strict diet that is supposed to basically “Reset” your body to its’ optimum level of health and functionality.
I don’t want to get into all the nuts and bolts of what the Whole 30 is and preach about something I haven't even done yet - although the fact that I am doing it at all is preaching enough for those who know me. But I do want to tell you why it I have decided to do the Whole30 and take my family along for the ride:
To start, while I was reading "It Starts with Food" I was taken aback with all the "science-y" facts and evidence that explain how food works in our bodies to either make us healthy or unhealthy (there is no in between). The way it works is complex, but it ranges from unhealthy psychological affects to allergies that we don't even know we have, and all of these things come together and cause us to live at a sub-obtimal level of health. (If you want the details about all this - read the book - it's very convicting!)  
Then there were the testimonials throughout the book which talk about people who have completed a Whole30 coming off of diabetes medications, cholesterol or high blood pressure meds, they talk about major medical problems being resolved (from common aches & pains to arthritis and Chrones disease), they talk about losing weight & inches, about beautiful skin without acne and healthy hair. But there was one phrase that almost every testimonial had that really caused my "reading ears" to perk up and that phrase was “Life-changing”.
But to be honest, I bought this book to simply get a few pointers on how to make my diet better. I had absolutely NO intention of doing anything as radical as a Paleo diet and especially not a Whole30. But within 2 chapters I was hooked and becoming more and more concerned about what I was reading and how it applied to me. By the end of Chapter 5 I was in tears about just how bad my situation was and how I was unknowingly dragging my family down with me (especially my kids). In one of the early chapters they outline a “bad day” of food choices – and let me tell you what… their “BAD DAY” was really what many would consider “good". And as it applies to me… their “bad day” and the many negative effects of it, was a HUGE wake-up call. Because my "bad" [eating habits] are about 6 circles of hell deeper than THEIR “bad”… so I can only imagine what my body is functioning at (probably about a 4%).
The point is that the more I read the more certain I became that I needed the Whole30 and that weight loss SHOULD NOT be my main concern. There are much bigger fish I need to fry right now – lest I become an obese, Type 2 Diabetic with high blood pressure and cholesterol who dies before my kids ever make it to a prom! (Yes, I am an extreme case – more on why in an upcoming post).
And here is where I can say that I know what you are thinking. You are wondering the same thing I and my husband were wondering when I got “hooked”… what’s the catch? What do the authors of the book have to gain if people do this Whole30 program? The answer is NOT A DARN THING. They have nothing to gain. The only thing I can figure is that these people GENUNINELY care about the health of others and wanted to help people like me figure out how to be healthy and they wanted to let people like me know that... (ready for it?) "IT STARTS WITH FOOD"! Because like I said in my first post, all the exercise in the world, ain't gonna fix a several Big Macs a week habit. 
But this post is becoming less post-like and more novel-like so let me wrap it all up in a pretty little bow for you: the Whole30 is thirty days of WHOLE FOODS ONLY:
No Dairy
No Grains
No Gluten
No Wheat
No Beans/Legumes
No Sugar (of ANY kind)
No alcohol 
No calorie counting
No weigh-ins
It is:
Protein (meat, fish, eggs)
Veggies
Fruits
Fats (oils, nuts, avocados, etc.)
Seems extreme – but you have NO IDEA just HOW EXTREME it will be for me. Check out my future post “McMe” to see what type of food eater I am now (Preview: I consider lettuce on a Big Mac to be a serving of veggies). (Yea… it’s B-A-D!)

Getting Started

Like this blog, this journey is just getting started. It began with a desire to get in shape and look amazing not just for myself but for my husband. (I’m not gonna lie, I’m the type of woman who wants my husband to look at me and think “wow… that’s my wife!”)

But what started as such a simple goal turned into so much more.

What started as a desire for physical fitness has become a spiritual test of sorts… one that I haven’t taken and don’t know the result of.

Which is why this particular blog is one I consider “RAW” – I am putting it all out here. Why? (Because I am crazy I suppose) And because to some degree this is my odd way of holding myself accountable, a way of journaling, a way of keeping a record of my successes (and what I am sure will be some failures as well), something I can look back at to help encourage me on future journeys and hopefully, if it goes well, a way to encourage others along theirs.

I won’t get into too much detail on this introductory post, except to give you the brief outline of what you are about to take part in should you choose to read this blog:

I am one of the least healthy eaters you will probably ever know.

I have two children who I want to teach to be healthy eaters.

I want to be in shape and looking G-O-O-D.

Exercise is good, but all the exercise in the world ain’t gonna fix a diet that considers “lettuce on a Big Mac” a serving of veggies for the day.

I read “It Starts with Food” per a fellow bloggers recommendation.

I prayed as I read all about the “Whole 30” in the “It Starts with Food” book (and I secretly, desperately hoped that this was NOT the path I needed to take).

And here’s where the journey got real… and fast.

I sat in the bathroom with my toddler one day and read her this scripture that I hung on the bathroom wall: “you were bought at a price, therefore honor God with your body.”

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And so, like I said, what started as a journey to simply get in shape physically has become more than that.

I’ll explain in more detail in posts to come. But my Whole 30 starts this Friday. I’ll get you up to speed and then we’ll dive in and you can come along on what I expect to be a very bumpy, but rewarding journey.

Welcome to “Wholly Journey”!